India’s first innings folded for a paltry 109 in Indore.
Opting to bat first, India’s first innings folded for a paltry 109 as Australia’s spin troika of Matthew Kuhnemann (5-16), Nathan Lyon (3-35) and Todd Murphy (1-23) wreaked havoc with the ball.
On the same pitch, the tourists managed to reach 156/4 at stumps and go into Day 2 with a valuable 47-run lead.
After the day’s play, former India spinner Harbhajan Singh opined that the shot selection from the Indian batter could have been better, insisting that the batting line-up should not have collapsed so quickly.
"The way the wickets fell, I agree that the ball was spinning and there was bounce as well, but the shot selection could have been slightly better. This Indian batting shouldn't have collapsed so quickly on such a pitch,” Harbhajan told Star Sports.
"If the players watch this after going back to the pavilion or are sitting now and thinking about it, they will be realizing their mistakes themselves and that they could have batted better,” he added.
Harbhajan said Rohit Sharma tried to dominate the Aussie bowlers from the very first over but could not judge the spin and bounce, and insisted that Cheteshwar Pujara made the same mistake.
"Rohit Sharma was trying to put his impression on the bowler but he should have given the first over. The ball was spinning and bouncing a lot. Pujara also made the same mistake. He couldn't judge how much the ball was spinning from the pitch,” he stated.
Harbhajan felt the Indian batters were in a little hurry and wanted to continue the form they had in the previous two Tests.
"Something similar happened to Shreyas Iyer. The ball didn't bounce and it was just the second ball. If he had already played 20 balls, he wouldn't have found it difficult. The Indian batters seemed to be in a little hurry and wanted to continue with the form they had in the last match,” he remarked.